


David Fury Q&A at the James Marsters Con

by yourlibrarian



Category: 24 (TV), Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Lost
Genre: Conventions, Gen, Nonfiction, Transcribed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-23 02:36:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23304352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: Originally posted November 9, 2006.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	David Fury Q&A at the James Marsters Con

**Please note all quotes should be considered paraphrases. I did get some quotes exactly but in most cases it was close, not exact.**

The first Q&A went to Fury, who complimented the first questioner, one of about 15 men there, on how dapper he looked in his tux. He was asked if he preferred writing or acting, and he said he preferred acting because he always had the impulse to show actors how to do scenes, but no one would pay him to act.

Asked how planned out different storylines were, Fury said Joss had different ideas for the future but as stories went along they would dictate "what we'd draw from the cast." What they did tend to do was draw from what they'd done in the past, "Pulling from history always works better than new stuff."

Fury was told that "24" needed some humor. He said yes, he'd tried to do so but was told it was "Not our show." He had to quell the quirky, especially since Jack Bauer was a pretty straight sort of guy. He could sometimes do some lines for the Chloe character but had to be satisfied with that.

He was asked about how target audiences could affect writing. He discussed AtS being more adult and darker, with BtVS until quite late being geared to high schoolers. He mentioned the script he wrote for AtS, "Corrupt," which prompted the network to go "Whoa! Stop production!" But while the show was never as dark as that script, a lot of it got worked in over 5 years.

Did the attempted rape in "Seeing Red" go too far, or was Fury happy it was still being discussed years later? He said it was an opportunity to show that Spike was still not a good person, was a tortured soul, er, rather soulless vamp. "He's not a good guy despite his passion for Buffy." Can vampires be redeemed? Fury believed a vamp could be domesticated, he could play the hero but still have darkness in him, but it would be an impediment that he's a monster. Getting the soul meant he could earn Buffy's love. It was not a mistake, but was staying true to the myth of the show. Some part of Spike's humanity always remained but he couldn't be allowed to go off in the sunset with Buffy as he was.

Asked for advice to screenwriters, what sort of story catches his attention? He said he wasn't a good person to ask because he wasn't a producer and didn't tend to read spec scripts.

What advice did he wish he'd gotten as a writer? He said he learned from Joss that emotional truth is all that matters. Anything can be outrageous about a character, or plot mechanics or more. But the emotional truth will be what people will remember, such as in "Lineage", what people responded to is that Wesley had to kill his father to save the woman he loved. No one bothered about the fact the episode was about bionic ninjas and a stick.

Asked whether the writers on "Lost" have a solution to each mystery they introduce, he said that "Lost" was built around expectations and anticipation. Smaller mysteries may not have any answers, as they're introduced just to do something neat in that episode, but bigger ones do. Lost is not about the meaning of things but the ride. He thinks that it's frustrating to not get some mysteries answered sooner but it was more about the mystery of life. Joss always wrote to create an end for the season, where the point of that year, what all the shows tied into, would be revealed or resolved. Fury liked working that way.

At this point the MC interrupted to announce that Jane Espenson and Steve DeKnight were on the first floor signing autographs. Fury pretended disgust and said everyone would now go see Jane and Steve. "Hey, free beer on the 1st floor! First come, first served!"

Asked about what guided the writers regarding English life, Fury said nothing really, just years of watching Monty Python. Tony Head would sometimes correct things such as language. The questioner asked if he realized that when Spike said that he would "drive Angel starkers" he was saying he would get him naked. "Did I write that?" Fury asked. When told no, he said "No, because that's just lame, everyone knows what starkers means."

Asked what was his favorite character that he'd written ever, he said writing for Spike was fun, also Harmony, Anya, anyone with snark. He used to enjoy writing Xander because he was the character closest to how Fury would feel, surrounded by others with powers, terrified but trying to be brave. Other characters grew to have more humor. He loved writing for Locke and Hurley. On "24" "Everyone's dead but Jack." Everything there was very earnest and straight.

At that point DeKnight booed from the floor above and Fury called back "Jack Bauer can kick Superman's ass!" 

Asked who Fury would like to see at a convention he said "You've got the cream of the crop right here." Then he added he always admired Bruce Campbell (cheers) but mostly producers, such as Ron Moore from Battlestar Galactica. "I kind of geek out over everybody." He said he was jealous of Jane getting to work on Battlestar. "What about you?" he asked the questioner. When told it was mostly James. he replied "Oh, I'm over him. You direct him in 3 episodes, and you're "Eh, he doesn't do such a great British guy." He added that people like Joss, the geniuses, were who he'd geek out over.

Asked what he'd like to see if AtS and BtVS had continued, Fury talked about the post-apocalyptic storyline for AtS, with L.A. in ruins, "Except since it was made for T.V. it would end up looking like 'Dark Angel'." As for Buffy he thought it ended the right way. Plus the "Gee, I get to be normal for a while" storyline was great for the character but would make a boring show. "I don't know where you'd go from there."

How did AtS come up with the brilliance of "Smile Time"? "It was mine," Fury said. They'd talked about doing an evil Sesame Street but when it was pitched to Joss, he didn't like it, he wanted to go with marionettes because they creeped him out. Then he came to them one day and said he'd figured out how to do the evil Sesame storyline "Angel becomes a muppet." He said Ben Edlund wrote and directed a brilliant episode "with me giving a brilliant performance."

Why, when Spike was corporeal, didn't he go to Buffy? Mostly because they had to come up with something to keep him in L.A. or he'd be off the show. So Fury discussed how Spike left Buffy as a hero but if he returned he'd just be needy. Plus Buffy had given him plenty of reasons to be insecure in the past and chances are he'd feel that way returning to her. "Hey, I saved the world! So let's go have sex."

There was a question after that I missed because I was in line for my own question. I asked him if when doing commentaries, especially if he was solo, what sorts of things he'd feel prompted to talk about as opposed to what he felt he should be discussing. He said that commentaries were more fun to do with lots of people, and he found himself getting distracted during them and having to keep up with what's going on on screen. He mentioned that for the Lies My Parents Told Me commentary that James was just out shopping in Santa Monica and was pulled in to do it. Because he was such a good guy, he said "I have a lot to do today, but ok." 

He was also asked what other shows he'd like to write for, and he said he'd like to do "The Office" because he was starved for humor on 24.

Fury was told it was great that he had gotten an Emmy, he replied that obviously AtS and BtVS were holding him back. He was asked what he looked for in a co-writer. He said to pick people who will deliver and do the hard stuff. Steve was exceptional at action, Jane at comedy. It was also important to see who had time, who had just finished a script for example. He knew that Drew Goddard was good and since Fury had to direct and do prep for Lies My Parents Told Me, he needed someone to help out and asked for him. "And I'm not saying that because he can hear me."

Asked what other flashback episodes he would like to have written, since he'd done two of them, he was rather stumped, but said he regretted turning down Fool For Love, which was one of his favorites. He said he began to feel differently about Spike after that episode. He was asked if he'd like to do the Woodstock flashback and Fury said he had forgotten Spike was there.

What role would he like to have played? "Spike!" He said Tim Minear was great about putting him in stuff. He enjoyed playing incompetent bad guys, where he could have fun in being goofy. They wanted to have a joke where the goat sacrifice guy would keep coming back doing small jobs for Wolfram and Hart.

Asked why reality shows were popular rather than good shows, he said he wasn't being a snob, that there were staff who enjoyed them even though he didn't. He mentioned someone loving "Project Runway" and Manny Coto enjoying "Amazing Race," that Marti Noxon had loved "Survivor." He said numbers didn't lie, it wasn't just propaganda, people do enjoy reality shows.

What would he do if he had 24 hours of invisibility? He laughed and said he couldn't answer that without losing the respect of so many people. Anyone being invisible wouldn't just go to a movie or out to dinner, they'd do something perverse. "If I ever became invisible, you'll know and report me to the police."

Asked if he envied the BBC, which doesn't depend on the bottom line of ratings, he said yes. He liked the fact that they'd do 6 episodes in advance, see if people wanted more, then do more small batches. In the U.S. there would be no way to make money off that scenario. Although apparently Lost is now trying to do 6 episode mini-arcs that are more self-contained. He asked if he could come over to the BBC and stay.

Asked about stories from the "Chance" film set, he replied "Ah, one of my proudest moments." He said he wasn't around enough to know any. He loved Amber Benson so much he had done the role. He said it was shot in her apartment complex and some of her neighbors were involved, but he was amazed that no one had complained about what was going on.

Will there ever be a musical episode of "Lost"? "I've heard them sing, so, no." But there would be a musical episode of 24 this season (joke).


End file.
